[Bas_]

Hey jeepster,

You should look at this page: ShieldsUp!:
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

It scans your most accessible ports and checks if you're computer is wide open in the internet breeze. With the scan results they give extensive information about what to do about it and how to configure your personall firewall.
This minimizes the chances of some prick cracker comin'in and try to use your internetconnection or CPU...

 

[Bas_]

vmail,

quote: "If our analysis has shown that your FTP service port is open, you will definitely want to take some action (if this is not what you intend). As you can see from the list of known FTP-port Trojans at the end of this page, some nasty malware might be responsible for surreptitiously opening this port on your system.(...) Trojan Sightings: Back Construction, Blade Runner, Cattivik FTP Server, CC Invader, Dark FTP, Doly Trojan, Fore, FreddyK, Invisible FTP, Juggernaut 42, Larva, MotIv FTP, Net Administrator, Ramen, RTB 666, Senna Spy FTP server, The Flu, Traitor 21, WebEx, WinCrash."

Since port 21 is the default for any ftp-sever to connect it's clients to, it's a highly favored port to attack by hackers, who just love open ftp's.

So if you're not running an ftp-server, to my opinion you should configure your firewall to stealth port 21 on incoming as well as outgoing directions. If you use an ftp-client to visit ftp-servers, you can allways configure your firewall to grand monopolic access by the specific application..

 

[Bas_]

Well, personally I'm not familiar with ZoneAlarm (I'm using Tiny Personall Firewall myself), but it can't be too difficult. Maybe you should check the Manual or some online toturial. I can tell you this to get started and know what to look for:
Configuring your personall is mostly consists of defining rules. Those rules control what access is granted to what port. So when zoneAlarm notifies you that some program is trying to get acces to a port, and you tell it to remeber your choice, it forms a rule according to what choice you made. Of course it's possible to manage those rules manually, and concluding from the fact you ask about it, I assume you don't know how to do this.
Discover how this is Done!!!

Find out how to create and edit your rules, because the safety of your connection depends on it. A badly configured Firewall is only marginably better then no firewall at all! If you have permitted all connections zoneAlarm notified you of thus far, your firewall is probably of no use anymore...

Anyway, if you have discovered you'll know how tot stealth port 21.. I'm not that much of a pro myself, but the site i've mentioned you above helped me getting started pretty good (just last week, i've got my internetconnection for only two weeks now). It's a very extensive site veryone knows.. so just use it. It doesn't scan all of your ports indeed, but there's probably a lot of progs available that do. You should post a new thread or sth about it, coz I'm not familiar with any yet... Getting there myself...